A Glossary for Querying Writers
The publishing industry has its jargon, and these terms can be confusing to new and seasoned writers alike, especially when not everyone agrees on a definition or when a word has more than one meaning. Here are some terms you might read while researching literary agents and preparing your query letter.
Beach Read: An easy-to-read novel with mass market appeal. The idea is that someone on vacation doesn’t want to think too deeply about what they’re reading and just wants a cozy adventure or contemporary romance. These books are often, but not always, set in the summer, and are usually low stakes. For example, Nicholas Sparks’ Message in a Bottle, Mary Kay Andrew’s The Weekenders, and Emily Henry’s Happy Place.
Blurb: In publishing, a blurb can mean one of two things. 1) a teaser of your story, like the back cover copy that entices people to read it; or 2) an endorsement quote from another author or publication, which is used for promotional purposes. The second definition isn’t relevant to querying.
Book Club Fiction: This is fiction with strong, often timely and controversial, themes that promote discussion, reflection, and debate. Also see upmarket fiction.
Book Proposal: This is specific to querying nonfiction. When querying fiction, your book needs to be finished so you can send the whole thing if the literary agent requests it. However, when querying nonfiction, it's more common to send a book proposal, which usually includes chapter outlines, comparable titles, target audience details, marketing ideas, your author bio, and a sample chapter or two. The nonfiction book doesn’t need to be finished before you query, because agents can get a feel for your writing from the sample chapters, and your platform or professional experience does a lot of heavy lifting.
Commercial Fiction: Also known as mainstream or genre fiction, commercial fiction appeals to a wide readership because it’s plot-driven and read for entertainment. It’s an umbrella term that includes popular genres like fantasy, sci-fi, horror, crime, historical, and romance. Its sibling (but not necessarily opposite—see upmarket fiction) is literary fiction.
Comps: This is short for comparative titles. These are the books, which your story has some similarities to, that you mention in your query letter. Effective comp titles are in the same age category and genre as your novel and have been published in the last five years. See “How to Find Perfect Comp Titles” for more information.
Crossover: A crossover book, or a book “with crossover potential,” generally refers to a novel that may appeal to both adults and children. For example, the Harry Potter series was written for middle grade children but gained a mass adult readership. Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows is marketed as YA, but adults love it. And Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series is for adults, but teenagers read it all the time. If your book is solidly in the middle grade, YA, or adult category, but you just think other audiences will also like it, don't describe it as a crossover; this is similar to saying your book will make a great movie adaptation—it's generally not something within your control or ability to predict.
In fiction, particularly in comics and television, crossover can also mean a story where Fandom A meets Fandom B, such as when the TV shows Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl did several episodes with a combined storyline or when the Punisher appeared in Archie comics. But, when querying, the first definition is more relevant.
Full: This is short for “full manuscript.” If an agent likes your query letter and sample chapters, they may request to read the whole book, a.k.a. the full.
High Concept: A high concept book can be widely marketed in one attention-grabbing sentence or phrase. But, to muddy the waters, just because you can summarize your book in one sentence doesn’t necessarily mean it’s high concept; it has to have a hook that makes readers immediately understand and feel intrigued.
For example, “Political factions battle over the throne of a kingdom” (Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin) is not high concept. But, “Cinderella is a cyborg" (Cinder by Marissa Meyer); "a murder mystery on a magical cruise" (Voyage of the Damned by Frances White); or "an amusement park with dinosaurs" (Jurassic Park) are all high concept stories. High concept is not superior to low concept, though it is popular with agents and publishers because it's easy to market.
Literary Fiction: While commercial fiction has set tropes, structures, and reader expectations, literary fiction is more experimental. It often focuses less on plot and more on prose, character, and theme. It’s usually slow paced and may experiment with structure. Literary fiction is a writing style, and thus can be combined with any genre, time, or setting. Think This is How We Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone or Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel.
Magical Realism: In magical realism, there is usually a single magical element in an otherwise mundane world. Sometimes, at least one character recognizes the magic is peculiar, but often it's considered normal and not commented on. So, instead of your protagonist thinking, “What? There’s magic in the world? That’s amazing and weird and cool and I have to learn all about it,” it’s more like, “Yeah, this bear can talk. How do I get it to leave my house?”
Gabriel García Márquez’s 1967 novel One Hundred Years of Solitude is a well-known title in the genre. More contemporary titles are Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova. Magical realism has its roots in Latin American authors, so fabulism or speculative are often used instead to mean something similar if it’s written by an author from another culture.
Metadata: You might hear people referring to the “metadata paragraph” of your query letter. This means the paragraph where you share the book’s title, word count, genre, age category, and comp titles.
MSWL: This stands for manuscript wish list, and usually means a list that an agent puts on their website describing the types of books they are looking for. The term might also refer to the specific Manuscript Wish List website, where agents can post their wish lists.
New Adult: This is an unofficial age category, since publishing hasn’t made a space for it (there’s no New Adult section in libraries or bookstores). Sometimes NA is defined as "YA but with steamy sex," but a broader definition is on the rise. These books are aimed at readers aged 18–25, with protagonists around the same age, and explore topics like leaving home for the first time, college life, identity, sex, careers, and relationships. Examples include A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, Sunshine by Robin McKinley, and Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. It can be tricky to query in this age category as a debut author.
Query Letter: Traditional publishing usually requires approaching literary agents or publishers with a query letter as a form of introduction to your book. It should include the novel's title, genre, age category, word count, comps, plot summary, and author bio. See “How to Write a Query Letter” for more info.
R&R: This is short for “revise and resubmit.” Instead of an outright rejection or acceptance, sometimes agents will request an R&R, because they like your novel but want to see significant changes before considering an offer of representation. Agents usually don’t use this term themselves when making the request; it’s a phrase the writing community uses to describe it. An agent will probably just say they will take another look if you make significant revisions.
Simultaneous Submission: This means you’re sending the same query letter to multiple agents at one time. Because agents can take months to reply, it makes sense to send out batches of queries at once, and agents expect this. It’s getting rarer and rarer, but some agencies will ask you to declare whether the query is a simultaneous submission or, even more uncommonly, will require an exclusive submission (which means you’re not allowed to query anyone else until you’ve heard back from them). It’s more common to see an exclusive submission requirement when submitting directly to a publisher or magazine.
Speculative Fiction: This used to be an umbrella term for science fiction and fantasy, and it basically meant fiction that takes place in imaginary worlds or that has unreal elements (like magic or future science). Sometimes, that’s still how this term is used. But, you might see an agent ask for speculative fiction while also specifying they don’t want science fiction or fantasy, so what the heck does that mean?
Agents have started using speculative fiction to mean stories with a light touch on the speculative. This often means one what if? element that takes place in our world instead of a full-blown fantasy world or sci-fi galaxy. Think The Handmaid’s Tale, which is dystopian but is also something that could, conceivably, happen. If you’re not sure what the agent means when they say speculative fiction, check the lists of books they represent and see if you can get an idea from there.
Synopsis: The word synopsis, in general, means “a brief summary,” so sometimes people use this term to mean the back cover copy of a book that teases the story. But in query lingo, a synopsis is a one to two page summary of your entire novel, including all the plot points and spoilers. When agents ask for a synopsis, they mean this second definition, and they will usually specify whether they want one or two pages. Jane Friedman has a helpful guide on writing a synopsis here.
Upmarket Fiction: If you thought commercial and literary were polar opposites, upmarket fiction would like to smugly wag its finger in your face. Like commercial fiction, it has strong plot, accessible writing, and deep characterization; like literary fiction, it focuses on themes ripe for discussion and may do some experimental things with structure or feature beautiful prose. Think Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, or Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. The terms upmarket fiction and book club fiction are often used interchangeably.
Women's Fiction: Women’s fiction is marketed at—you guessed it—women. It focuses on the female protagonist’s emotional journey and her relationships, which may or may not include romance. Jodi Picoult and Nicholas Sparks are well-known authors of women’s fiction.
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